I made a quick Google map of the data we analyzed for this story about fire response times in San Antonio. Many residents of the exclusive Dominion, home of the San Antonio Spurs’ David Robinson and other celebrities, aren’t happy about a slow response to a recent fire that destroyed a $1 million home.
I plugged in the city’s data for incidents that occurred between 2000 and 2006 in the area in and around the Dominion. The red dots show incidents in which firefighters exceeded a national response standard of five minutes. The clock starts when they’re dispatched to the emergency, and it ends when the first unit arrives at the scene.
Clearly, firefighters aren’t making many fires in time. This was a problem we found in many outlying neighborhoods, where fire stations are more spread out, and a labyrinth of winding, cul-de-sac streets slow down firefighters.
What’s also interesting about this map is how few fires strike the Dominion, which raises questions about where the Fire Department should marshal its assets and best protect its residents.
Here’s a map of Sunrise, a neighborhood on the East Side of San Antonio that suffered the same delays:
